Is the whois info for expiration dates of domains limited to 9 years?
 

I renewed a domain for more than 10 years but the whois info is only showing it expiring 2017 (9 years) even though my registrar admin (not the whois info) shows the full time frame.

Under ICANN rules, the maximum period for domain registration is 10 years out. However, you can renew your registration every year, so, in theory, you can own the domain forever, even if you only register it one year out, as long as you keep renewing it every year.

If that's the case, then how is it that the registrars are offering periods longer than 10 years... if it is 10 years, then why is my domain showing 9 years even though I renewed it for longer than 10 years.. Something seems fucked up somewhere.

Re-read what I wrote. ICANN limits it to 10 years.

Increments are usually 1 year. So if you are at 9.5 years, you can't add on another full year since that takes you past 10.

Maybe the registrar autorenews for you past 10 years. So, the central registry doesn't show the longer period, but the registrar does. That's my guess.